American History XEssay Preview: American History XReport this essayIn the summer of 1914, when World War One broke out, the United States wanted to be neutral and isolated. Americas policy of insisting neutral rights while also trying to advocate peace resulted in tensions with both Berlin and London. We didnt want to get involved because we viewed this war as a European conflict.In three short years, however, the United States would find itself in the middle of what later became known as World War One.
When the war began England enforced a naval blockade of Germany in the hopes of cutting off supplies. Germany responded by unleashing the U Boats. U Boats were submarines that were capable of staying submerged for long periods of time. They would sneak up upon their victims, often at night, and torpedo them. The Germans didnt limit their attacks to military ships. Any ship sailing in the war zone was considered an enemy to Germany (Doc #5). This became known as unrestricted submarine warfare. On May 7th, 1915, the British cruise ship (Lusitania) was sunk off the coast of England. Over 1,198 passengers including 128 Americans were killed. America was furious at the brutality and demanded a stop to this type of attack. In 1916, after the sinking of the passenger liner Sussex, Germany agreed to end unrestricted submarine warfare in the “Sussex pledge.”
German leaders also threatened to destroy the German Navy, and the war was ended. It was not until the following year that hostilities between the Allies came to an end.
The Allies continued to maintain their presence and neutrality in the east of Europe. The Germans were able to protect American bases, fortifications and ports. However, they also kept their military bases near to shore. After 1916, Germans kept the U.S. bases. In February 1917, the U.S. withdrew from a large Soviet territory. Although the Russians were able to maintain their bases on some of the Eastern Shore of the United States, they could not defend it. In turn, these bases were moved to a large Russian base, near the Russian border. On April 20th 1917, the U.S. had moved in. U.S. bases were not considered necessary at this time. However, the following June, U.S. officers were asked to take up arms to defend their own bases.
The American military, however, was not so determined to end unrestricted submarine warfare. In December 1919, with U.S. forces in large numbers, General George H.W. Bush ordered the withdrawal of some of the U.S Naval and Air Service Command Command bases north of New Orleans. This order came about after U.S. submarine attacks in France, Portugal, Hungary, Poland in 1939, and Czechoslovakia in 1939. During his visit to London, Bush had met Secretary of State Henry Blatchford directly. Bush had wanted to give Blatchford more firepower and be able to move ahead. The Bush administration was furious at this and wanted to end the war in Europe. But, for some reason, Bush didn’t want it to end. However, in some ways, Bush’s decision to end the war led to the U.S. sending troops in order to support the British navy to oppose the invasion. The U.S. also began bombing the Czechoslovakian cities of Prague and Minsk. Despite the bombing attempts, the Americans did come out strong against the Russians in the spring of 1941, using more weapons, and taking significant part in the invasion of the Soviet Union. The American generals were also concerned about the end to the war after the Second World War.
“One may look at the war as a humanitarian emergency, and have an instinctive judgment that it should go on. But there are some very important consequences that must be kept out of the picture: the invasion begins; it endangers the sovereignty of the peoples of the world; and it will have an enormous effect over the world and be a huge factor leading to war. That the people have the power to do the right thing through the military intervention in international affairs, and to change the course of that intervention, and even change the course of history, is exactly the kind of moral responsibility which is being sought.”—Albert Wolfson, “The Peace of World War II,” World War II Veterans Association (WVWNA) website
Our report in response to a request on 5/28/14: